It is well known to transport trailers of trucks on railroad cars, namely, flat bed railroad cars. Some designs have used specialized structure railroad cars and adapters for the landing gear of semi-trailer trucks as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 2,864,321. Others have provided stands for the king pin of the trailer which ride along a pair of slots in the surface of the railroad car, and generally include a manually actuated mechanism to hold the stand in place on the car after adjustment. Examples of these structures are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,845,878; 2,846,172 and 2,903,977.
Collapsible fifth wheel stands have also been installed at one end of a flat bed and arranged to be raised by a chain or hook pulled by a truck tractor beneath a parked trailer to secure it to the railroad car. This is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,016,025, 3,202,390 and 3,236,194. Examples of stationary, collapsible fifth wheel stands which are raised or lowered by spring, screws or hydraulic include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,180,282; 3,189,307; 3,291,074 and 3,289,987.
A self-propelled stanchion which can be positioned along the surface of the railroad car and raised and lowered using internal or external motors is described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,800. But its operation was independent of the trailer positioning.
All of the systems of the prior art have advantages and disadvantages. Those which use specialized car design are not usable to transport other types of freight. Those which have an erect stand are not storable and require the removal of unused stands at one location and a supply at the unloading location if there is further loading to be performed. Some of the collapsible stands are not adjustable along the surface of the flat bed and, thus, do not allow for optimum placement of the maximum number of trailers on a train system. The positioning and securing of the stanchions require special equipment or more than one operator or plural steps in addition to positioning connecting and disconnecting the trailer.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system which allows the operator to readiably select the position of a stanchion for a trailer and securing the stanchion thereto.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system which reduces the number of steps and personnel needed in loading, securing, unsecuring and unloading a trailer on and from a railroad car.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system wherein the stanchion is repositioned and operated from the tractor which positions the trailer.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a system wherein the operator, from the cabin of the tractor, can monitor the relationship of the tractor, the trailer, the stanchion and actuators on the tractor which interact with the stanchion.
These and other objects of the invention are obtained by providing an optical system on the tractor which allows the operator in the cab of the tractor to monitor the relationship of the tractor, trailer, stanchion and actuator which interact with and control the position of the stanchion. The optical system preferably is a screen in the cabin and a camera providing images for the screen. Other optical devices including mirrors may be used. A train, including a plurality of cars with one or more stanchions mounted either permanently or movably thereon, has stanchion position indicia provided either on the stanchion for a stationery stanchion or on the deck of the car for movable stanchion. The indicia indicate the position from a reference point on the train. In combination with the optical system, this allows the operator to select an appropriate stanchion to which to secure the tractor from the cab without further assistance. The indicium of the next stanchion position is determined as a function of the indicium of the last stanchion position to which the trailer is secured and the length of the next trailer to be loaded. This may be done by the operator using an onboard computer or from a chart which will indicate the positions of the indicia after the operator has added the previous stanchion position indicia to the length of the trailer plus a minimum spacing factor.
The stanchion includes a lock for locking the stanchion in the raised position and trigger for unlocking the lock. An actuator is provided on the tractor having a safe position which does not engage the trigger when the tractor is adjacent to the stanchion and an unlocking position which does actuate the trigger when the tractor is adjacent to the stanchion. Thus, the safe position is forward of a rear behind a bumper on the tractor and the unlocking position is out or beyond the bumper. The actuator may also be pivotally connected to the bumper. The bumper may be essentially split into be a pair of bumpers with a hook there between. The optical system allows the operator in the cab to monitor the condition of the trigger on the hitch so that he can assure that a trailer is only secured to a raised and locked stanchion before driving out from under the trailer. The tractor also includes a hook mention above for engaging the stanchion and raising it. The optical system allows the operator in the cabin to monitor the position of the hook with respect to a receiver on the stanchion. Also, the stanchion may be provided with indicium, spaced from the receiver, for indicating the minimum in spacing from the receiver at which the hook should be moved from its disengaged or engaged position. The optical system allows placing the tractor and trailer at the appropriate point such that as the hook is behind the indicium.
Thus, the unique stanchion and the unique equipment on the tractor allows the selection of the appropriate stanchion position during loading and controlling and monitoring the position and condition of the stanchion and elements on the tractor and trailer during loading and unloading. Similarly, all the operations, in selecting and controlling the stanchion are performed from the tractor, thereby reducing the amount of time, the number of steps and the number of people involved in the loading and unloading of the trailer and the positioning and repositioning of the stanchion. While improving safety both by giving the driver better control of his operations, and eliminating ground personnel who are otherwise subject to tripping hazards or being struck by moving equipment.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.